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"Countdown to shutdown" is the catchy phrase coined for a difficult situation for four northwest Georgia libraries.

Lecia Eubanks, director of the Cherokee Regional Library System that has branches in Rossville, Chickamauga, LaFayette and Trenton, came up with the slogan to sum up the library system's troubled financial footing.

Increased costs and funding cuts likely will force library officials in six months to pick a branch to eventually shut down to keep the system afloat, Eubanks said.

"It's not good news," she said. "It's what I've been calling the 'countdown to shutdown.'"

Eubanks declined to single out one branch.

"There are two libraries that are in the most dire straits," she said. "The Rossville library and the Dade County Library."

While Walker County has three libraries, the Trenton branch is Dade County's only library.

"We certainly don't want [Dade] to be the only county in Georgia without a public library," Eubanks said.

The Dade County Library also is in a newly renovated building, while the Rossville branch is an older building.

The library's governing board will decide in January whether to shutter a branch, Eubanks said. The closure would occur some months later.

"That still leaves some time for some local funding to raise its head," she said.

LIBRARY HOURS CUT

In the short term, the library's board voted Monday to further cut hours starting on Aug. 5 at three branches and dip into reserves to pay for operations.

Mia Vanderpool, left, and Brianna Tolbert look for books to check out at the Dade County Public Library in Trenton, Ga.